Borders May Be For Sale

Thu, 2008-03-20 13:47

This is interesting. Borders may be up for sale. It has lined up $42.5 million for continued operations (chump change compared to the $30 billion the Fed's offering JP Morgan Chase to backstop Bear Stearns' assets). But it seems like continued competition with online booksellers, Barnes & Noble and Wal-Mart has finally taken its toll on the chain.

Clearly, it's had a plan in place to try and reverse its fortunes. Perhaps it's simply run out of time to turn things around, especially with those rough economic headwinds everyone is facing.

"We believe that consummation of the transactions under the commitment will make us fully funded for 2008, where absent these measures, liquidity issues may otherwise have arisen in the next few months," Borders CEO George Jones said in a statement.

Borders said it is reviewing a wide range of possibilities, including the sale of only part of the company or certain divisions.

After postponing its scheduled fourth-quarter earnings results Wednesday, the company reported net income of $64.7 million, or $1.10 a share, compared with a loss of $73.6 million, or $1.22, during the same period last year.